Mark Bocek

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani is reporting that Nick Ring vs. Constantinos Philippou has been scratched from tonight’s UFC 154 card. According to Helwani’s tweet, Ring was not feeling well and the doctor refused to clear him.

Philippou’s manager, Lex McMahon, told Helwani that the UFC will not be seeking a last minute replacement for Ring.

The removal means at Mark Bocek vs. Rafael Dos Anjos will be moved to the main card and Antonio Carvalho vs. Rodrigo Damnn will now fight on the FX card.

All of the participants for the UFC 154: St. Pierre vs. Condit card successfully made weight in preparation for their bouts Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.

The event will be headlined by a UFC welterweight title unification bout featuring current champion Georges St. Pierre and interim champion Carlos Condit. The co-main event will feature a number one contender bout between Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks.

UFC lightweight Mark Bocek says that longtime veteran John Alessio is finally back in the UFC and will be replacing "TUF" alumnus Matt Wiman has his opponent in a preliminary bout at UFC 145 on April 21 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bocek tweeted the switch earlier this afternoon. The UFC has yet to confirm the change. Wiman reportedly suffered an undisclosed injury during a recent training session.

Alessio makes his long-awaited return to the UFC after winning ten of his last eleven bouts. His last UFC appearance was a unanimous decision loss to Thiago Alves in October 2006. Bocek was last seen handing Nik Lentz his first UFC loss in December.

The Daily Recap is a collection of news and notes from around the web that will be posted at the end of each day. Bout signings, injury news and much more can all be found here.

— The UFC today announced a pair of bouts for UFC 145, which is slated for the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on March 24. Mark Hominick will attempt to bounce back from a devastating knockout loss to Chan Sung Jung in a featherweight bout against California fight scene veteran Eddie Yagin. In addition, skilled grappler Mark Bocek will lock horns in a pivotal lightweight affair against "Ultimate Fighter" alumnus Matt Wiman. [UFC.com]

— Just one day after it was announced that Ken Stone would face Mike Easton on the undercard of UFC on FX 1, the Massachusetts native has been forced to withdraw from the bout due to an undisclosed injury suffered during a recent training session. A replacement opponent for Easton has not yet been named. [MMA Weekly]

A lightweight bout between slick grappler Mark Bocek and H.I.T. Squad member Matt Veach is reportedly possible for “The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale”, which is slated to take place on December 5 at the Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to MMA Weekly, both parties have agreed to the fight and bout agreements are in the process of being finalized. The event is also expected to feature Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones and Frankie Edgar vs. Kurt Pellegrino.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship yesterday confirmed multiple previously rumored bouts that are scheduled to take place at the organization’s separate April events later this year.

Added to the UFC’s return to Canada on April 18 for UFC 97 were a total of four bouts. Former WEC Brian Stann will make his UFC debut against “Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Krzysztof Soszynski on the event’s televised main card.

Stann was slated to take on Steve Cantwell in the third career bout between the two this past December, but was forced out of the bout with a foot injury. Soszynski comes into the fight with one UFC win already under his belt in the form of a second-round submission of Shane Primm.

The past few days following the completion of Saturday’s UFC 93 event in Ireland have brought forth a slew of potential fight announcements involving upcoming events being put on by the UFC and WEC. Let’s get right to them:

— One-time WEC featherweight title challenger and longtime veteran Jeff Curran will reportedly make his bantamweight debut against Urijah Faber-protege Joseph Benavidez at WEC 40 on April 5 according to MMA Weekly. The event, which will likely take place in Chicago, will be headlined by WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres defending his title against Brian Bowles.

— Former International Fight League standout Bart Palaszewski will reportedly take on Richard Crunkilton in a lightweight bout at WEC 39 on March 1 according to MMA Junkie, which is also stating that the winner of the bout could receive a title shot against the winner of this weekend’s upcoming lightweight title fight between current champion Jamie Varner and top contender Donald Cerrone.

In the second round Lesnar landed a punch that sent Couture to the mat. Lesnar then jumped on Couture, landing a big hammer-fist, and then continued to punch and punch until the fight was stopped. Four fights into his MMA career, and Brock Lesnar is the UFC heavyweight champion. It was good to finally see a heavyweight championship fight, but with Lesnar becoming champ so fast it’ll be interesting to see how the former WWE star is received as UFC champ by MMA fans, and general sports fans alike.

A lightweight bout between Alvin Robinson and Canadian grappler Mark Bocek will take place as a non-televised preliminary bout on the undercard of UFC 91, which takes place on November 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The UFC officially announced the bout over the weekend via their official website.

Since falling to Frankie Edgar in his UFC debut, Bocek has gone on to split his last two fights in the promotion. Bocek used his superior ground skills to earn an unanimous decision over Doug Evans at UFC 79 but fell to Mac Danzig in his next bout at UFC 83.

Robinson shares the same situation that Bocek is currently in - he has gone 1-2 thus far in the UFC. Robinson was last submitted by rising lightweight contender Nate Diaz in the first round at UFC Fight Night 12 before having to battle injuries throughout the summer. Prior to that, he won an impressive decision over Jorge Gurgel at UFC 77.